Musician Rodrigo Arreguin was surrounded by untouched instruments during his childhood in Tijuana, Mexico. It was the allure of an unplayed guitar hanging on his mother’s wall, accessible yet unexplored, that began his life-long love affair with music.

His curiosity about the guitar grew, until one day he lifted it off the wall, balanced it on his lap and strummed. From that day forward, he was hooked.

“I really enjoyed the sound of the guitar,” Arreguin said. “Even just messing around with it, it felt good. I really didn’t realize that it was a strong connection, but now that I’m a grown up, I feel that there was a connection between the instruments and me.”

His exploration of the guitar grew into a foray with his grandmother’s old piano.

“I remember when I was in my grandmother’s house, I started listening to what they played just a little bit, and I decided just to copy what I heard, and then I would play a little bit of the piano and started imagining…connecting with the feeling of the song or what I could imagine about what the song was,” Arreguin said. “That kept me going. It was something that I wanted to do very often.”

Now, Arreguin is a classically trained guitarist who has 27 years of experience under his belt. The music-fanatic has also dabbled in a multitude of other instruments — including the drums, violin and even the tuba — and studied conducting for juvenile bands and orchestras.

For years, Arreguin taught classical guitar in Tijuana and crossed the border into San Diego for higher paying gigs.

“The culture in Mexico is supportive of music, but it’s not well paid,” Arreguin said. “Here in the States it’s great and supportive and you can make a very nice income for sure.”

Arreguin became a naturalized U.S. citizen and after the extensive, expensive permanent residency process, he and his family moved to the states. They drove into Rifle in 2018 with $200 and hope for more opportunity and a life intertwined with nature.

“Suddenly we were here, and like, well, we don’t know anyone other than family,” Arreguin said. “I had some experience because I worked in San Diego as a musician, so it was smoother to speak english, to know a little bit of the culture in the United States.

“It was hard because that trip to Ciudad Juárez (for papers) took a toll on us,” he added. “Finally we made the step and after a few months, I started to play in Glenwood Springs.”

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For the past seven years, Arreguin has built a platform as a solo artist in Garfield County, performing covers and original compositions. His “eclectic” music defies genres, blending the multicultural influences of his upbringing with hints of ’60s rock and roll and ’80s and ’90s grunge.

“Tijuana is very multicultural since it’s exactly at the border of San Diego,” Arreguin said. “So you’re influenced by listening to music in English, but you get lots of things in Spanish too.”

Arreguin composes through improvisation, finding and expanding on musical licks he finds particularly satisfying.

“I just start working on that little idea that popped up by improvising and then if I can start adding more stuff without taking out the essence of that idea, I keep growing it,” Arreguin said. “Sometimes if nothing flourishes from that, I put it in a little notebook and then I work on that later if I have another great idea that I can connect with that old idea.”

One of his most popular pieces is a composition from 2010 called “En tus Ojos,” or “In your Eyes.”

“It has a very peaceful character. If I would call this song a color, it would be the color yellow.
It makes me think about gold fields,” he said. “It’s peaceful and it’s also a love piece that I wrote to my wife back then. It comes from being in love, but it also comes from being calm and peaceful and relaxing.”

His favorite part of performing is contributing to the joyful ambience of life.

“Listening to people chatting, me playing the guitar, being comfortable with it, people enjoying themselves eating, or just having a nice time,” Arreguin said. “It’s about everyone and it’s the whole atmosphere. It’s part of life to enjoy life.”

You can find Arreguin strumming his guitar in the Hotel Colorado Courtyard 6-8 p.m. Friday, May 23.